Membership & Legislative Conferences are Important

Importance of Membership

to the Legislative Conference

& What it’s All About

Over the years, many of us have attempted to explain the importance of joining our association. Sometimes we just throw out little blurbs while we forward other information along. Despite our efforts, we still have a percentage or group of FSA County Office employees that choose not to pay the membership dues and become a member. Reasons vary considerably, but the fact remains; an employee chooses not to become a member with our association. The dues are quite minimal compared to other organizations. So I personally do not accept the cost as a real reason.

Joining NASCOE should really be self-explanatory. We represent ourselves, by ourselves. We do not belong to the national Federal Employees union or other federal unions that are prevalent on both coasts. We are basically the ‘peons’ in the world of government, but we impact an industry called “agriculture” that generates about 80% of the jobs in America.

Membership helps our organization go to the table when our national officers petition for our benefits, annual leave, sick leave, COLA, grades and steps, budgets, staffing levels, and a whole lot more. Meaning, each year NASCOE goes before Congress and makes a request to be included with the other federal employee union requests. If we don’t, we are left out.

In addition to that, state association representatives meet at least annually to meet with their respective Congressional representatives and senators to provide information and discussion on key issues impacting our employees in the field. Sometimes, if the need arises, we meet in WDC a second time like last October. We have a good relationship with our congressional contacts. We have to. It’s imperative that we have good communications with our state representatives and senators. Our customers are also their constituents. Why the effort?

Money. Federal money. Money generated by taxpayers. And the competition for that money is fierce and not always fair. NASCOE represents and fights for you. There are federal agencies and organizations that are competing for our administrative funding as well as program funding. Sometimes they are very effective. Sometimes we can stave off their attempts to pull our funding for other agencies or “projects”.

Your paid membership keeps us in the fight and in the ring. Your membership also energizes the people that represent your state and our national officers. Basically, your trust and loyalty feeds us and keeps our energy levels up….in other words, you motivate us! Your paid dues pay for the expenses we incur traveling to WDC to fight for your benefits. We go to WDC as a national association on our own time and our own dime. It’s not on government time and it doesn’t cost our agency anything other than our personal annual leave.

The time spent at the Legislative Conference is brief and very exhausting. There’s very little room for sightseeing or bumming around. The first day is devoted for the arrival of attendees and checking-in at the hotel. The second day is for meetings and conferences which involves practically the whole day. NASCOE officers start the day with their presentations followed by Bob Redding and the Redding Firm. The afternoon, we listen to the FSA Administrator and leaders of invited commodity groups. The NASCOE Officers then review the contents of the Position Papers and review what and how they should be discussed with your congressional contact. This is very helpful as it educates the group and keeps us on the same page. There are a lot of pointers and suggestions on what to say and what to avoid. Everybody takes a lot of notes. By evening, your mind is enshrouded in a gray fog…..due to information overload….for some of us (like myself), the breakers popped long ago.

The assembly then breaks out separately by areas; i.e. MWA, SWA, SEA, and Bender’s Bubbas (couldn’t resist). Our area legislative chairpersons go over special notes and discussions unique for their area. Everyone engages in discussion and more questions are raised followed by more discussion. Position Papers and packets are handed out based on the number of appointments and drop-offs that are scheduled. Evaluations and travel expense sheets are also handed out and reviewed. When everyone feels they have their packets together and feel ready to forge ahead, the side meetings come to a close. Everyone has their game face on. The tone is set. Nobody lingers in the hospitality room that night….too much to think about. Too much at risk.

The next day is Appointment Day…..or “Migration Day”, as we all get dressed up in our Sunday’s best…coat & tie, and herd to the Metro and hope we get on the Blue Line that goes to “Capital South”. The Metro is the subway transportation system which is about 90% underground except near Arlington Cemetery.

Last October, we enjoyed a toasty 93-degree day…and very little breeze. John Baird and I started with our appointments at 9:00 AM and completed our last appointment at 5:00 PM. We were sopping wet with sweat as we crawled onto the Metro to return to the hotel near Pentagon City. We got back to the room at 5:40 PM…..cranked up the AC and stripped down out of our hot, damp dress clothes. We unintentionally fell asleep in our chairs while watching Fox News and woke up around 7:00 PM. I was still holding my glass of water! We were beat. The heat and the long day wore us out. You never know what weather to expect until a few days before you travel to WDC.

The following morning, John and I completed our evaluations and made special notes of key questions from our legislative contacts and turned them in to Trice Smith. Then we bolted to the airport and made our way home.

So far, NASCOE and NAFEC have been very successful. Although we do not win all the battles, we do make our presence felt. And there are some situations we cannot completely avoid, but we can help buffer some of the impacts our administration hands down, like the RIF’s we experienced in the mid-90’s. It could have been much worse if NASCOE wasn’t battling in WDC those years. Our representative logged a lot of uncompensated hours fighting for the COF’s across the nation. Recently, the battle lines were drawn again with FSA Tomorrow. NASCOE got this stopped for the most part. Despite continued efforts to close COF’s….our administration was forced in taking a more “reasonable” approach. It may not be 100% of what we wanted, but the plan is considerably different than originally proposed. We now have options.

Like I stated before, joining NASCOE makes sense and should be self-explanatory. Maybe someone can explain it to me, but I have a hard time understanding why a person refuses to join our association. It would be like a wedding without the vows, or a baseball game without a first baseman, or an airline pilot without a valid pilot’s license. I’m sure the reasons are valid, but someone needs to know why so we can resolve these issues. I think one item we can start improving on, is for current members to be better ambassadors to our fellow employees or peers. Enthusiasm is contagious.

Think about this; for a 2.1% cost of living adjustment (COLA)…..or $800 annual raise for some. Would that be worth you paying the dues to become a member? I would take that exchange rate, anytime…regardless if I were a grade 4 or grade 7 employee. Something to think about.

We need your membership. We have bigger challenges ahead as the federal budget is huge and needing fixes. We can’t take anything for granted and we need your help. Congress has a huge responsibility and our FSA administration is under a great deal of pressure by OMB.

We need everyone on board to fight the next round of budget battles. It gets their attention when Illinois can state that we represent 93% membership. Some states cannot say that and it hurts them when they visit their Congressmen and their membership numbers appear low in comparison with other organizations. We need everyone on board to be a paid member. It does make a difference.

Can we count on you?

Jerry Quinton

Illinois Legislative Chair

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